Thursday, July 02, 2009

Nice to Meet You #19 - Daniel Tosh

The funniest single standup comedian I’ve ever seen is Eddie Murphy. If you haven’t seen “Delirious,” you’re missing comic genius. Ice cream man, James Brown, Goonie-goo-goo… All classic. The best. Actually, give me an hour, I’m going to go watch it right now.

Back. Still awesome.

Anyway, the point is that even though 1980s Eddie is the best, it’s pretty difficult for me to pinpoint who my second-favorite comedian is. Mitch Hedburg and Steven Wright are the kings of confusing one-liners, Mike Birbiglia is the king of awkwardness, Brian Regan is one of the best storytellers, and Chris Rock is far and away the best active “ghetto” comedian. Those are all my guys, but none of them win the silver.

He’s irreverent, witty, a little bit crass, and most importantly, hilarious. I’m reminded of him because he’s finally got his own show on Comedy Central, “Tosh.0,” which centers around the internet’s most interesting viral videos and Tosh making fun of them all. Personally, I love it, but I know it’s destined to be cancelled soon enough. These types of shows rarely last. It’s a sad thing, too, because Tosh is the (second) best.

I’ve seen Tosh live twice in my life, both back in college, and once when I ran sound for him, probably circa 2003. (It’s truly depressing that I’m already forgetting these things).

After the show, as we always did, we went downstairs and had a beer with the comic and talked about times past. Tosh, for example, revealed to us that he was inches away from joining the cast of “Punk’d” but pulled out at the last second because Ashton Kutcher was such a huge douchebag. It made sense, but considering Dax Shepard got himself a couple of feature films from that show, it probably wasn’t the smartest career move. Last time I saw Tosh he was a bully in “The Love Guru.” So, yeah.

In any event, he’s a guy with principles. Would YOU sell YOUR soul to Kutcher just for a couple of movies? Me neither. Genuinely cool guy, and one of the best comedy shows you’ll ever see. Seriously, rent “Completely Serious.” You’ll have tears in your eyes. Tears of joy.